Summary:

I'm not sure why, but I think I'm glad it's not Asuka. Or Misato. I know Rei won't cry. Not over me. Not unless she knew the whole truth. But, to know that, I suppose you'd have to be someone else. Rei, for all her perfection, probably doesn't consider the truth before her. It's too far-fetched.

Principal Yamamoto had been good with his word, and the classroom had been cleared out of the old sensei's belongings and replaced with a new desk. Kaoru had gotten to school early and was reading over the lesson plan.

Shinji and Pen-Pen relaxed as the warm meal in their bellies coupled with the pleasant mind-numbing effects of the TV took over. "Pen-Pen. Change the channel." Shinji complained. He looked extremely relaxed. Almost as if he was one with the couch.

Pen-Pen looked over at his roommate and sighed with equal laziness and couch-camouflage. "Wuaaagh."

"Oh, yeah." Shinji remembered he had the remote control in his hand, and changed the channel to something more interesting.

"You two in position?" Shinji whispered, looking past the corner of the nearest building to see the edge of the giant, ball-shaped Angel. For the first time, he could feel his heart pumping in excitement instead of terror. While his mind was usually wracked with self-doubt and questioning, he knew that he had the highest sync-ratio, that Tokyo 3 was at full operational capacity to back him up, and he had the chance to prove his courage to Asuka.

Asuka listened in horror as Misato and Ritsuko organized the UN troops around the Angel, hoping to put some kind of pressure on it to release Shinji. Her only companion was Rei, who watched the whole situation with her usual, unnerving cool stare.

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit..." Kaoru literally ran down the halls with his books in hand. Two dozen or more papers for the day's class were clutched perilously in his hands, but never fell despite his frantic movement.

One could surmise he was late, as the clock that hung over his classroom door read nine-twenty am. "Argh..." he sighed, opening the door.

"Back to our original conversation." Kaoru said loudly, interrupting the number of conversations still going since the second bell ending lunch had sounded. "Who can bring us back up to speed on the nature of Sound?"

The class was silent for a moment as their Sensei tapped his chalk on the board, waiting for a reply.

Pen-Pen's scratching woke Shinji as always. As always, around the same time, just before school. Though there was no school on Sundays, Shinji always expected the little penguin's noises, and had even begun to count on them to wake up. After all, SOMEONE had to feed him.

Shinji walked out into the kitchen, scratching his head lazily as he went about fixing Pen-Pen's breakfast.

"Back when I was a child..." Kaoru said as he handed Shinji a cup "...I didn't really have anything else except my music."

They stood alone in the cafeteria, helping themselves to some of the vending machine drinks and snacks. Luckily, they were always open, even on Sunday. Both of them agreed that talking over food would be a nice change. Asuka and Rei would probably just go home.

Kaji swallowed hard in the dry air, shivering with the effort of holding on as the line retracted back into his grappling pack. He clung onto the side of a double-helix of illuminated metal that stretched up and down for what seemed to be infinity. What little light there was came from the shaft of 'DNA' he hung on to, and a similar glowing tunnel that spiralled around the edges of the cavern he was descending down.

Miyazaki Kaoru stood at the window, looking out over the buildings of Tokyo 3. The sun was just beginning to rise, casting the incredible oranges and yellows across the white cityscape that were the norm for the season. Even in this endless summer, one could see the differences. Cicadas and color were the only change, yet it was still change.

Ritsuko watched with faked interest as the view screen showed the events at hand. The footage was already a week old, yet only she and Commander Ikari had seen it sooner than this 'emergency report' issued by the MAGI.

Asuka stood proudly. One hand was on her waist, while the other held a clipboard full of German text. This was an important moment, and if everything was to go well, she would have to read the list perfectly.

"Are you ready, my kawaii baka-Shinji?" she smiled down at him from her vantage point on the couch.

It was one of those things that made Misato believe firmly in God. And that He was out to get her.

The ten or so seconds (depending on how you counted) from 11:59:50 to Midnight that night were filled with the sound of someone walking into the bar in a hurry. She sighed, nursing her drink between her thumb and index finger, and watched Kaoru run up and sit down next to her.

Day broke as it had every other day. The peaceful night crickets eventually fading to the noisy day cicadas. Only a few in the city even noticed them anymore. What some would consider an annoying sound was music to the ears of Tokyo-3.

Rainbows were beautiful. Newborn babies were adorable...and some puppies and fuzzy pets were often considered cute. However, Mari Suzuhara, just a few scant weeks away from her tenth birthday, and dressed in what had to be the most adorable, yellow-and-pink flowery hospital gown, topped them all.

The fact that she had Toji by the neck was even cuter...in a strange, Asuka-esque kind of way.

That was the only conclusion Shinji Ikari could draw against his escape. Last time he did this, even NERV's so-called 'finest' security officers took over two days to bring him back. Even then, they would never have been able to keep up with him until he stopped to visit Kensuke that one misty early morning.

He decide it was so. It had to be so, since he felt to desires. No hate, no pain and no wish to be elsewhere.

At first, he wondered if the light around him was a pool of water. If he had slipped in the bath and hit his head. Perhaps, he was in NERV Headquarters. After a long day, he had decided to go to the Men's Lockers.

In the dark, the memories always come. There were no overriding images to stop them from flooding her mind's eye. The hallway was empty as Asuka walked through it. All the lights were off, leaving only the echoing illumination from her destination and the emergency lighting.

"This doesn't make sense." Misato said, looking at the documents in front of her.

Makoto looked past her, out across the Geofront's lake. He would have liked to give Misato the results of his inquiries in a more private place, but in Tokyo-3 there was no 'private' place. Every alley and room had an equal chance of being bugged or watched by NERV, SEELE, or perhaps the JSDF and other world governments.

Something in the air seemed different as Professor Fuyutsuki read his morning paper on the Monorail. Maybe it was the occasional cough or rustle of a newspaper down the cart that caught his attention. After all, normally the train was dead this early in the morning. He had only seen other NERV employees one time during his several months of using the train since it had been built.

It really was a shame that these favours had to be called on so early in the game. While he did not have the omnipresent, reaching resources that Commander Ikari had, Kaji prided himself on his tight network of contacts, friends, and people who owed him favours.

Asuka sat up in bed, completely silent. She could hear the speaker begin to charge with the tiny bit of electricity it would need to sound the alarm clock...and reached over Shinji to pull the plug before it did.

Not yet...she though. She had to think for a moment. Morning would wait patiently.

The nurse fell backwards, completely shocked at the sudden outburst. A tray of needles, medicine, and water fell from her hands with a cry, and clattered to the floor.

The redhead on the sterile, hospital sheets crawled backwards away from the nurse, still breathing heavily. The IV needle that had been intended to go into her arm dangled uselessly on her bed. "No! I don't want to stay here! I don't want to stay here!"

There is something sad in assuming that the Mother is the 'first other'.

The first person you meet. The first you know. The first you talk to and trust. Even if it is only in limited baby-speak, you try to communicate with that woman. You try, because you know her. You assume she must care for you, or you wouldn't be here.

Misato had slept in far into the evening. Again. And she still felt like the underside of a rock. Her daily routine had always been to make it to the fridge for her morning beer while somehow managing to be presentable (i.e., not naked, half-naked, or smelling like something horrible).

The heat of the day was unnatural. Sounds of helicopters and machines buzzed louder than the cicadas of the old summertime. Orange suits animated through the dense trees to where a large, burnt scar cut across their path.

Mist unlike anything they had ever seen blanketed the area with heat that could have boiled you alive if you were bare skinned. Luckily, the NERV emerg teams were not so foolish.

Kaji gazed at Misato with an odd expression. It was a mix of both awe and concern. Concern for the events happening of late, and the stress that she must be feeling. However, he was also quite entranced with the woman across from him.

Needing to talk, they agreed on a meeting place out side of town. There wasn't much left of Tokyo-3 anyway, so it seemed to be the best idea.

Asuka watched herself in the car, almost as if she was having an out of body experience. Like she was watching an all-too real dream, waiting for herself to wake up and be happy, jump around, and thank her darling Baka Shinji for making her the extra lunch she usually wined about and never thanked him when he did, but would promise to herself to thank him for remembering today.